Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. That company was Invoca, which just announced a $20 million fund raise led by Accel. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

It has historically been the case that VCs would rather fund the promise of 100x in a company with almost no revenue than the reality of a company growing at 50% but doing $20+ million in sales. Imagine if, say, Autodesk had purchased it in 2009 for $100 million? Goliath” mythology take on the titans of industry and wins.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Capital Funding .Net 363

SoCal Tech Calendar

OCTOBER 9, 2009

Thursday, October 15, 2009 -- Working with Traditional and Social Media. Achieve Pitch Writing Success. Working with Traditional and Social Media to Help Your Company Stand out From the Crowd 3. This is an interactive public relations workshop focused on both traditional and social media.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Journal Writing 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. Just 3 years ago there was talk of institutional investors “not being able to write small enough checks.” Thus the amount of money that companies have raised before going public had doubled since the Great Recession.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2012

I got a call from a VC friend of mine who said, “we’re looking at this deal but can’t write the full check. But I had just seen the company present at a recent tech event and thought highly of what they were building. I was interested in the company but I wasn’t chasing the deal. The CEO called me.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Writing 356

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 23, 2009

Thursday, January 29, 2009 -- "Accessing Government Funding for Research: Partnering for Success in Challenging Economic Times" Southern California Biomedical Council. In the current financial environment, these government grants are becoming more important as traditional sources of funding early-stage life science companies dry up.

Research 100

Research Funding Southern California Writing 100

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2009

If you search for her (as of July 10, 2009 at 5:45pm) you will get no result and the text, “did you mean Amanda Choong?&#. While you’re at it put in a link (if you don’t blog or want to link to your company at least link to your LinkedIn or Facebook profile). And write a short bio about yourself. Anything.

Tips 216

Tips Social Media Social Network Santa Monica 216

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

What changed — and why the definition changed — was it became 90+% cheaper to start companies and thus seed funds appeared en masse as did angels so the size of seed rounds actually INCREASED and the size of A-rounds in many instances decreased. So VCs started writing some smaller A-rounds. Why the latter?

Seed Funding 399

Seed Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 399

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 22, 2010

One of the companies that just announced $10 million in funding was a company I had never heard of called Huddle. With Huddle, you can manage people, projects and information inside and outside your company, securely.&#. I always worry about companies that spread themselves too broadly. So Skype was ubiquitous.

Screening 266

Screening Screencast Web Yammer 266

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Spark Capital is relatively new to VC (founded in 2005) yet has become one of the hottest new VCs having invested in Twitter, Tumblr, AdMeld, Boxee, KickApps and many more companies. We both felt that the critical reasoning skills and writing skills were critical to our career development. Founded in 2008 by Mehdi Maghsoodnia.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

But they weren’t there in 2009 when you were up late nights shitting yourself whether you really were smart for pursuing this idea. I started by writing 3-4 times / week. I didn’t have any grand ambitions other than to write, share ideas and try to build awareness of who I am through my thoughts. Nothing comes easy.

Startup 391

Startup Blogging Venture Capital Writing 391

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

This was 2009 and his understanding of audience engagement was far beyond anything I was hearing from most people at that time. In a perfect world they would just hang out in our offices, work on tech ideas, help us evaluate opportunities, attend our investment meetings and be thoughtful advising tech companies that come to meet us.

Conference 150

Conference Slides Social Media Summary 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

I’m going to write a pure admiration piece. We saw several companies present and I was mostly there for the networking. One company – Samasource – presented an incredibly inspirational goal of helping people in developing countries – not by aid but by engaging them in work. Not this one.

Startup 150

Startup Conference Ideas Writing 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

This is a post I’ve been dying to write for 18 months. I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. To put things into perspective, the company has 7.7 See, I originally lost this deal.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Activision 310

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write this post since September of last year when Brad Feld first wrote about the The Founders Visa Movement. I commented briefly on his blog and made a mental note to write a blog post. At the time he granted me permission to write about his story. So he decided to start his company in Canada.

Technical Review 282

Technical Review Startup High Tech Software Review 282

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

So with the metoric rise of Twitter now forecast at 45 million as of August 3rd, 2009 (and rising fast), has Twitter Killed the Blogger Star? I have started blogging again having taken a hiatus since 2007 (actually, I was initially embargoed by Salesforce.com who didn’t want me blogging after they acquired my company).

Blogging 219

Blogging Venture Capital Startup Social Media 219

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2010

We built that and put it on the App Store on December 24 of 2009. As of the last four months, we've had about 200,000 plus downloads, a bunch of great write ups, and a lot of mom bloggers who have been reviewing the app and writing stories on it. All of 2009 was figuring out what people want.

Mobile 168

Mobile .Net Pasadena Software Review 168

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. I’m writing this post to explain to entrepreneurs what you should be thinking about in terms of the VC’s you approach and the size and stage of their funds.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

Yet along with “authenticity” they are two of the key attributes I look for when I meet with companies I may consider funding one day. This is how Upfront Ventures came to fund Tristan Walker – one of the most talented and passionate entrepreneurs with whom we work whose new company is called Bevel.

Startup 419

Startup Entrepreneur Design Funding 419

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

If one entered between 2009-2015 he or she is no doubt in the “hazard” phase where one need to be careful about thinking he know more about the industry than perhaps he do. Too much money too early often f s companies up. But that would be 4 companies just this week. The mega round will devastate many companies.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

But all of this increased company creation has to go somewhere. It costs less money to start companies so the world should have way more startups.&# I’ve heard the “world is different&# argument in every bubble I’ve ever seen. But I’ll judge the angel class of 2009/2010 on a 7-10 year time horizon.

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

When venture capitalists scale back investing activities it can be very swift and leave many companies that are in the process of fund raising hung out to dry. I would argue that the shut-down of September 2009 was equally severe yet there are signs that this “VC Ice Age” has begun to thaw.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Funding Invest 263

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

I asked some of the participating VCs, and they told me their attorneys had figured out a way to keep their stealth-mode companies stealthy.Yes, this strategy is not for every company. Often times when companies raise “bridge” financing (this is money from internal investors. We spoke briefly about why. Short answer: no.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

A standard entrepreneur retort I heard back then (2008-09) was “I don’t know what my company is worth now. What investor would put money into a company and then agree a price later based on success? So if I write you a $500,000 check into a convertible note with a $4.5 Investors call Bull Cap. Enter “the cap.”

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. It’s why opt-in marketing databases can be so incredibly valuable for companies like Gilt Groupe, One King’s Lane and AdoreMe. source: Harris Interactive IM Shopping Poll (August 2009)).

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Innovation and Geography I ran across a post in Read/Write Web - Does Location Matter in Web Innovation? Ive personally been involved in the start-up world in Los Angeles for about 15 years, and have had the opportunity to work on many early-stage companies (e.g.,

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

And 450 million licenses of Windows 7 were sold since its launch in 2009, making it the fastest-growing operating system ever, and showing us that Windows is going to keep controlling the OS market share. Microsoft as a company also donates its products and services to help those less fortunate. 3. It’s not just about Windows.

Writing 88

Writing Training Email .Net 88

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

Pre-money ($8m) + investment ($2m) = Post-money ($10m) and the investors now own 20% of your company $2m / $10m. This was until about 2009 because most the investments in companies came from one, maybe two, sources. How much am I willing to invest in your company? How much do I want to own % wise of your company?

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

In the original version of his post, Andy writes. You invest across many funds just as VCs invest across many companies. By 2009 had reduced to around $15 billion in capital from LPs. Let’s look at some great companies. So I can make a huge difference in the company’s trajectory. And reinventing itself.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Employers also have a hard time looking for viable candidates for their company. Pablo Fuentes: It first started in 2009 when I was in business school originally. We clearly went through some difficult transitions in the company. The company almost died. Hearing that your company almost died. That was rough.

Mobile 86

Mobile Marketing Writing Startup 86

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on the skills I’ve developed in my career. In the latter cases many companies (Flickr, Delicious, Blogger, Writely in 05-08 and lately Invite Media, Aardvark, Dodgeball, etc.) So where are we now?

Invest 284

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 284

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

I spoke a lot about the need for “personal branding” which I plan to write about soon. Some of my friends who were forced to go into startup companies ended up working for these biotech firms that became huge, and they made a lot of money by not being able to get a job. I started the company for all the wrong reasons.

Startup 337

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Venture Capital 337

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

Great companies are comprised of great individual point people or functional leaders. But when I’m looking to write my check I need to look in the eyes of the captain — the maestro who brings the whole orchestra together. There are plenty of great leaders who work really hard and work for big companies. They finally quit.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

socalTECH

APRIL 25, 2011

We called the company GOGII--literally, our short text code of 60611, which you can looks a little like GOGII. Scott Lahman: When we first put it out in early 2009, free texting was just a huge offering. Even though write once and run anywhere has been the holy grail, I think it's the false prophet.

Gogii 200

Gogii Mobile Activision Electronic Arts 200

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was an angel investor in his company, made a bunch of calls on his behalf and then I personally sent it out on AngelList. I think how hard it is for me to be hands-on with a handful of portfolio companies. I’ve had to do this with 2 companies at the same time. Through this process he raised $2 million. So I thought, WTF?

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on my background. In the latter case many companies (Flickr, Delicious, Blogger, Writely, etc.) This is cheaper for them than waiting for big competitors and buying companies at big prices.

Invest 152

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 152

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Great companies are built by having great products. One great company, AppFolio , filmed all of this user interaction and made the DVD available to me. They are people who built and sold companies and have a bit of money. The key to getting money is that the people writing the check trust you. Go research it.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291